The Weight-Loss Deception: Calories In VS Calories Out

But why?

It’s probably not the reasons you’re thinking. It has less to do with your genetics, lack of self­-control, or inability to do math (i.e. calorie­ counting).

And it has everything to do with these three things…

[vertical_spacing height=”10″]

The Weight-Loss Deception: Calories In VS Calories Out

Thermodynamics

You’ve been lied to. I’m sorry, but so was I.

I was told for years that weight loss was a simple equation: calories in versus calories out. I even remember back when I first started as a personal trainer, I took a week­-long course and had an argument with the instructor who tried to tell me that it did not matter whether my client consumed all their calories from soda or from vegetables.

Calories were calories, he told me. Fortunately, I was too stubborn to believe it. The reality is that yes, the law of thermodynamics is true in a vacuum. But our bodies aren’t vacuums.

When we ingest vegetables it has a completely different effect on our blood sugar, hormones, and metabolism than processed carbs and sugars. The latter guaranteed to add inches to your waistline and subtract years from your life.

Fat Stores

Processed carbs encourage fat storage, specifically visceral adipose tissue. These fat cells are unlike any other. They are your worst enemy.

Here’s why:

These cells absorb most of the available glucose, fats, and ketones in your bloodstream. This leads your body to think it is in starvation mode and hunger spikes. When this happens, your body’s objective is to immediately get food and slow down the metabolism.

But even if you try to “eat clean” from this response the food is broken down and energy stored back in those fat cells – propelling this seemingly inescapable cycle of hunger, overeating, slowed metabolism and fat storage.

The culprit in this chain is insulin, a hormone necessary for metabolism but disastrous when spiked by processed sugars and carbs.

Nutrients

It’s a fact that most of us are nutrient deprived and malnourished. But nutrients are vital for optimal cellular communication (especially hunger control mechanisms) and fat metabolism.

Because our diets are so high in processed carbohydrates and too low in fat (especially saturated) we become imbalanced. Processed carbs are loaded with omega ­6 fatty acids, which should be in balance with omega­-3 fatty acids but due to our eating habits ends up being beat 20 to 1.

Additionally, our fear and misunderstanding of saturated fats robs us of vital fat-­soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K – all critical for fat metabolism. Not to mention it deters us from eating more fatty animal products like grass-­fed beef, raw whole milk, and whole free-­range eggs (yes, with yolks).

But these animal products are not only superior for the fat­ soluble vitamins they provide, but coincidentally they also provide a hefty dose of omega­-3s (no, fish isn’t your only source) as well as other fat­-burning agents like CLA and amino acids like L­-Carnitine.

In my book Nutriscribe I discuss the facts about fat, the truth about fat metabolism, and how to adapt nutrition to your body and lifestyle (without fad dieting, food logging, or calorie­ counting).

If you combine sensible nutrition with the right workout program, you’ve got yourself a long-­term plan for success. Our app, Exerscribe, was created with this in mind.

Throughout my career as a personal trainer and health club manager I observed the major fitness deficit everyone carried in the gym – lack of a roadmap. So I decided to build a program that was not only a long­term roadmap, but also evolved as you evolved.

Like the “Pandora” of workout apps, Exerscribe adapts to your sleep quality, stress levels and personal preferences to take you to your pinnacle of health and fitness. 

If I can ever answer any questions for you, shoot me an email at kusha@exerscribe.com. I’m available anytime – “after work” is an oxymoron for me :) 

Get after it,

-Kusha Karvandi